CONFIDENTIAL
(c) A new policy permitting private sponsorship of
individuals/families by concerned groups. We are aware of limited
interest in sponsorship in the UK. Such a scheme could be developed
on the lines of schemes already operated by Canada and Australia
and should impose only a limited burden on voluntary agencies/local authorities. It would be a new policy departure
and details would have to be worked out by Home Office Officials.
2.
A conditional package
If we were to pursue the idea of a conditional package this could be done on the following basis:
(a)
we would seek authorisation from Ministers to discuss a
possible new commitment of, say, 500 without prejudice to
our eventual decision
(b) such discussions should in the first instance be
(c)
(d)
confidential.
They would be with:
(i) UNHCR, who would be invited to indicate how many
additional places they could aim to secure
(ii) major resettlement countries.
We would aim for a "multiplier effect" where proposed
resettlement of each 100 in the UK would bring about
resettlement elsewhere of a multiple of that number.
But in practice we doubt whether UNHCR could produce
significant additional commitments. They already give priority to Hong Kong when asked; and only the smaller
resettlement countries look to UNHCR for such advice.
(e)
As for the major resettlement countries, the results of
such an approach would be extremely difficult to quantify.
It is not clear how "extra" resettlement places would be
defined. Resettlement in the US, Australia and Canada
already run at a higher rate than under our present
commitment. "Reverse conditionality" could be used
against ourselves in future. But we could make some
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